96 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Young. At first recognisable by having the forehead and 

 crown of head grey like the body, and a tinge of yellow on the 

 throat ; the fore-neck and chest dull ashy with a dusky spot on 

 the former. After the first moult the young birds may still be 

 recognised by the yellow tinge on the white throat ; the head 

 is grey like the body, but the forehead is white. 



The White Wagtail may always be distinguished from the 

 Pied Wagtail in summer by its pure grey back, which contrasts 

 with the black head, whereas in the latter species both head 

 and back are black. The female of the White Wagtail has a pure 

 grey back like the male, whereas there is always some admix- 

 ture of black in the back of the Pied Wagtail, though the 

 female is never so entirely black as the male. In winter the 

 two species are more difficult to distinguish, especially as the 

 young birds of both have a grey back like the adults, but at 

 all ages the greater amount of white on the wing-coverts serves 

 to denote a White Wagtail. 



Range in Great Britain. A regular visitant in spring, and has 

 been identified as nesting in the British Islands on several 

 occasions. It has doubtless often been confounded with the 

 Pied Wagtail, and is probably more common than is supposed. 

 It has been noticed in many parts of Scotland, and on one or 

 two occasions the late Mr. E. T. Booth observed it in some 

 abundance in the island of Lewis and near Inverness. It is 

 probably a regular visitor in autumn on its way south, as in 

 1890, and again in 1891, a White Wagtail frequented the lawn 

 of our house at Chiswick, appearing in October for two years 

 in succession, and remaining for two or three days in the 

 neighbourhood. 



Range outside the British Islands. A more eastern bird than 

 the Pied Wagtail, but found along with the latter bird in its 

 winter home in the South of France. It goes much further south 

 than M. lugubris, and winters in Senegambia and North-eastern 

 Africa. The W T hite Wagtail also goes further to the northward to 

 breed than does its congener, being found throughout Europe 

 and extending to Iceland and the Faeroes in summer, and even 

 reaching Jan Mayen and South Greenland. Its breeding quartern 

 extend into Siberia to the valley of the Yenesei, and it winters 

 in the plains of North-western India and the Burmese countries. 



